The Daily Tar Heel Thursday, October 30, 19865
4The Daily Tar HeelThursday, October 30, 1986
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300 W. Rosemary St., Chapel Hill 942-8581
Duke Forest Place, Suite 210A
3326 Chapel Hill Boulevard
Durham, NC 27707
(919) 493-8444
V
ery real
Chapel Hill may seem to be an idyllic
college town, but it has its own supply of
skeletons in the closet. In the town's past lurk
frightening tales of horror and unexplained
death.
The murders of Suellen Evans, Rachel
Crook and Lucille Rinaldi are part of this
almost forgotten past. Each was committed
more than 20 years ago, but all remain
unsolved, a mystery to police and comm
unity members alike.
In the spirit of the Halloween season it is
again the time of year to examine some of
these more unsavory memories from the
past.
By COURTNEY SANDERS
Staff Writer
Halloween for many of us means
dressing up as pregnant nuns, Dick
Crum look-alikes or Playboy bunnies
and parading up and down Franklin
Street.
Or perhaps you are reminded of
movies like "Halloween," parts I, II
and III, where every closet, bed and
kitchen contained a dead person
(murdered by some weirdo who
always managed to escape death no
matter many times he was stabbed
or shot)..
Chapel Hill has its own murder
mysteries.
In some, the killer was never found
or the prime suspect was not con
victed despite convincing evidence.
These chilling cases will keep you
watching your step.
Arboretum attacker
Suellen Evans had finished classes
and was on her way back to Cobb
residence hall. She entered the Coker
Arboretum, which runs along
Cameron Avenue and Raleigh Street.
Within minutes, she was dead.
Thus, the Arboretum is the scene
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of one of Chapel Hill's most bizarre
murder mysteries. This violent crime
was not committed at night when the
Arboretum would be dimly lit and
spooky. It happened on a hot,
cloudless summer day: Tuesday, July
30, 1965.
Traffic was heavy on Raleigh
Street, and children were playing
only 50 feet away, as Evans, who was
planning to go home to Mooresville
for the weekend, entered the Arbore
tum at 12:30 p.m.
A few minutes later, two nuns and
two female students heard her
screams.
The women rushed into the
Arboretum. There they found Evans,
who had staggered almost 100 yards
back to the street after being
attacked. She said, "He tried to rape
me. 1 think I'm going to faint."
Evans fell to the ground dead, her
clothes covered with blood. She had
been stabbed in the heart.
Her killer had vanished without a
trace.
About 250 students gathered to
search for clues and the murder
weapon, a 5- to 6-inch long switch
blade. They got down on their hands
and knees to look under every bush
and tree, but the weapon was never
found.
The police scoured the area as well
but found no clues, except for hair
samples confirming the killer's race.
All the people near the Arboretum
that day were questioned. But the
police had no suspects and no motive
established.
Six days later, a description of a
man seen twice near the Arboretum
was released: a black male, about 25
years old, about 5-foot-10-inches tall,
160 pounds and with a slender,
athletic build.
This description, given by stu
dents, matched one given by a janitor
in Davie Hall.
Another student said he saw a man
wearing a light blue, button-down
shirt enter the Arboretum at noon.
He saw the same man crossing
:hills from the
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Franklin Street near the Alpha Tau
Omega house about 1 p.m.
These leads, as well as many
others, were followed. Police fol
lowed one man to Texas who said
he knew who murdered Evans, but
it turned out he was just an alcoholic
with dreams of grandeur who had
heard about the case.
In the end, no arrests were made.
Tb this day, the murder in the
Arboretum has never been solved.
Rachel Crook murder
Crook's Corner on West Franklin
Street is named after the lady who
lived on that property for 20 years,
until her murder just outside Chapel
Hill on August 29, 1951.
Rachel Crook, a 71-year-old spins
ter, was found lying in a pool of dried
blood on that day on an abandoned
dirt road four miles north of Chapel
Hill, near New Hope Presbyterian
Church.
Crook had been beaten to death
with the killer's fists, her face battered
beyond recognition. Her legs were
drawn up toward her shoulders, and
her clothing was pulled up to her
waist. One pool of blood was under
her head and another under her lower
body.
The victim was a lady devoted to
her education. At age 50, she had
come to Chapel Hill to pursue a
doctorate degree in economics.
She lived in a remodeled gas
station, where Crook's Corner is
now. To help pay for school she
operated a launderette, a fish market
and a textile remnant store, all in her
home. She also sold boxes of pecans
from her plantation in Alabama.
On the day of her mysterious
death, 24 deputies and city detectives,
along with the State Bureau of
Investigation, searched the road and
surrounding grounds for clues. A set
of tire tracks, indicating that some
one had driven onto the road and
backed out over the same tracks,
were found.
The body was identified after a
dressmaker called the police to report
Crook missing. Crook had missed a
fitting appointment, and the dress
maker had found her home open and
the stores untended.
Friends said Crook used to relax
on her porch from 7:30 to 8 p.m.
She sat in a chair that was always
inside the store except for that 30
minute interval. The day of the
murder the chair was still on the
porch. The police assumed that the
killer could have approached Crook
at that time; they also surmised that
she knew her killer, because she
probably wouldn't have been per
suaded to get into a car with a
stranger.
The other clues that police found
were flesh under Crook's fingernails,
indicating a struggle, and hair on her
clothing that was not hers.
The police thought they had the
case solved when they arrested a
farmhand seen near Crook's home
on Aug. 29. But they released him
when evidence led them to a new
suspect.
This second suspect man was
covered with scratches and didn't
have an alibi. He had also sold his
car two days before but had no record
of the sale, because it was a cash
transaction.
Again police concluded they had
the wrong man, because new wit
nesses said they had heard screams
from a green Ford truck passing by
on a road near the murder scene. The
present suspect hadn't owned a truck.
The police called the Alamance
County sheriff to ask for help in
locating the green truck. This seemed
to be their lucky break, because at
the same time an Alamance County
woman was complaining that a green
truck was blocking her driveway.
The truck was registered to Hobart
Lee, who had been convicted of
assault on a female in Alamance
County but had received a suspended
sentence. The police called him into
the station. He had fresh scratches
on his arms and face, and the tire
tracks matched the tires on Lee's
truck. The police jailed Lee on Sept.
1.
At the trial, Lee said he was in
a house of prostitution on the night
in question. The proprietor said she
had never seen him before and that
the house was locked up that night,
because she had been sick. A neigh
bor corroborated that story.
The Orange County sheriff testi
fied that Lee said he was so drunk
that night that he didn't remember
what happened. The sheriff said part
of their conversation that night went
as follows:
"You drove up that road (the one
on which the body was found)
because you helped build it, didn't
you?"
"I guess so."
"While you were there, did you hit
her with anything besides your fists?"
"I dont think so."
After an hour of deliberation, the
jury rendered a verdict of not guilty.
Christmas Eve murder
Frank and Lucille Rinaldi, home
town sweethearts, were married in
July 1963. On December 24, 1964,
Mrs. Rinaldi, who was pregnant, was
found dead in her home on North
Street.
She had been suffocated to death. .
Evans fell to the
ground dead, her
clothes covered with
blood. She had been
stabbed in the heart.
Her killer had
vanished without a
trace.
and there were signs of a struggle.
Some of the doors and windows were
not locked.
The police charged her husband
with her murder.
Mr. Rinaldi was a UNC-CH
graduate student and an instructor
in English. He claimed he had been
out all day buying Christmas presents
for his wife.
Mrs. Rinaldi had worked only one
day at Guy B. Phillips school before
leaving abruptly and returning to
Waterbury. She returned to Chapel
Hill on Dec. 20.
Rinaldi's motive seemed to be that
his wife had just recently taken out
a $20,000 double-indemnity life
insurance policy, bought from their
friend John Sipp.
Rinaldi, however, was freed for
lack of evidence, but was arrested
again eight months later.
At the trial, a local waiter, Alfred
Foushee, said Rinaldi had tried to
hire him over and over again to kill
Mrs. Rinaldi. He also said that on
Christmas Eve Mr. Rinaldi said, "It's
over. I did it."
He was convicted but won a new
trial on errors from the N.C.
Supreme Court.
Mr. Rinaldi did not testify at his
first trial, but this time he did. At
his trial he denied Foushee's story,
claiming he had been shopping with
Sipp on Christmas Eve.
Sipp said, Rinaldi "did not go even
near his wife when he opened the
apartment door and saw her lying
on the floor." Sipp said he had
checked the body instead.
On Oct. 21, 1965, the jury found
Rinaldi not guilty.
Dromgoole tale premieres
Nov. 1 on public television
"Shadows of Dromgoole," a
ghoulish tale of horror and hilar
ity, will premiere statewide over
the stations of the UNC Center
for Public Television on Satur
day, Nov. I at 11 p.m.
Produced here at the Univer
sity, "Shadows" loosely follows
the local legend of Peter Drom
goole, a student killed in a duel
fought over the honor of his lover
in 1833. The story has been the .
subject of at least two novels and
the theme for one poem.
In the 90-minute show, the
fictitious town of Dromgoole
Berry, founded in the late 1700s,
sets the scene for murder and dark
villainy as well as lighthearted
spoofs of vampirism and political
hijinks.
The cast features many North .
Carolina actors. Patricia Barnett,
playing the twisted matriarch of
the Dromgoole clan, has played
in more than 140 productions.
She most recently appeared as
Madame Elizabeth in "Look
Homeward, Angel" for the Play
Makers Repertory Company.
Paul Tourtillote, who appeared
in "Look Homeward, Angel" and
"Much Ado About Nothing" for
PlayMakers, stars as the corrupt
senatorial candidate, J.C.
Dromgoole.
Walter Spearman, a retired
professor from the UNC School
of Journalism and author of "The
Carolina Playmakers: The First
50 Years," guest stars as Oliver
Dromgoole.
James Pritchett, known to
millions of television viewers as
Dr. Matt Powers on the daytime
soap opera "The Doctors" for
which he won an Emmy Award
in 1978 makes a special guest
appearance as the DromgooleB
erry town historian.
"Shadows" is the first produc
tion of Maco Light Productions,
founded in 1985 by a group of
University students. Michael R.
Wilson and James A. Briggs, both
from Winston-Salem, are the
show's creators.
Wilson, who also served as
director, said the company's
philosophy is to develop the
talents and skills of regional
artists.
"The idea is to explore the vast
heritage of North Carolina," he
said. "We're looking to preserve
the old, while discovering the new,
through the creative perceptions
of its people."
"Shadows" was produced by
Maco Light Productions in asso
ciation with Student Television of
the University.
The Legend of Maco Light
On a night in 1867, at the small
Brunswick County station of
Maco, 15 miles west of Wilming
ton, a slow freight train was
puffing down the track. In the
caboose was Joe Baldwin, the
flagman. A jerking noise startled
him, and he became aware that
his caboose was uncoupled from
the rest of the train, which went
heedlessly on its way.
As the caboose slackened
speed, Joe looked up and saw the
beaming light of a fast passenger
train bearing down on him.
Grabbing his lantern, he waved
it frantically to warn the oncom
ing engineer of the imminent
danger.
Joe was too late. At a trestle
over the swamp, the passenger
train plowed into the caboose. Joe
was decapitated. His head flew
into the swampp on one side of
the track, his lantern on the other.
It was days before the destruc
tion caused by the wreck was
cleared away. And when Joe's
head could not be found, his body
was buried without it.
Thereafter on misty nights,
Joe's headless ghost appeared at
Maco, a lantern in its hand.
Anyone standing at the trestle
would first see an indistinct flicker
moving up and down, back and
forth. Then the beam would
swiftly move forward, growing
brighter and brighter as it neared
the trestle. About fifty feet away
it would burst into a brilliant,
burning radiance. After that, it
would dim, back away down the
track and disappear.
It was Joe and his lantern, of
course. But what was he doing?
Was he looking for his head? Or
was he trying to signal an
approaching train?
In 1889 President Grover
Cleveland, on a political cam
paign, saw the mysterious light,
as have hundred of people
throughout the years. But in 1977
when the railroad tracks were
removed and the swamp
reclaimed his haunting grounds,
Joe seemed to have lost interest
in Maco. At least, he has not been
seen there lately.
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